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While all the discussion surrounds who will bat at number six in the first Ashes Test at the Gabba, the second opener slot also remains equally contentious.
Although David Warner opened in the last Test match, he since has been dropped for the ODI series of India and has been involved in yet another act of ill discipline.
This means the door is still open for Phil Hughes.
The selectors have already stated that the current ODI series in India will be take into account when the team is picked for the first Ashes Test.
Hughes has a golden opportunity to prove his worth, especially as an opener – a position in which Hughes averages higher than any other position he has batted in his 49 Test innings for Australia.
The day after the first ODI match, Hughes was quick to admit to the media that he is simply taking it one game at time and feeling relaxed after an extensive period on the sidelines.
“I suppose last few months I have been on the sidelines and just helping the boys being the 12th or 13th man, it’s just nice to get out there and play some cricket,” he said. “I’m just relaxed and like the way things are going, take it a day at a time and not look too far ahead.”
Hughes returned to his customary opening position, scoring 47 from 53 to provide an early impetus to the Australian innings.
Asked if he has always preferred to open the batting, Hughes stated he was prepared to bat anywhere, although he had spent most of his junior days and his initial phase in the Australian team as an opener.
In his last 17 innings, Hughes has batted in four different positions and been made a scapegoat for Watson and Warner’s preference to open the batting.
The fact of the matter is Hughes averages 36 as an opener and 28 in the other positions he has batted for Australia. On his day, Hughes can be equally as devastating as an opener, but seems to struggle when he has to start against spin.
In his 49 innings in Test cricket, Hughes has been a victim to spinners on 18 occasions – nearly 40 percent of his dismissals. It is a game he has been working hard on given the time he has spent on the subcontinent, the home of spinning tracks and spinners.
Hughes has really struggled to rotate strike against spinners and it would be baffling for the selectors to bat him in the middle order and expose him to Swann in the Ashes.
The ODI series will present Hughes an opportunity to face the new ball and then learn to manipulate the ball into gaps once the spinners are introduced in the middle over’s.
If Hughes can score an abundance of runs in India as an opener, a position in which he averages better than Warner, he could well be opening with Chris Rogers in Brisbane.
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